Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 686 - 565 Extortion (Request for Monthly Ticket)_1

Chapter 686: Chapter 565 Extortion (Request for Monthly Ticket)_1

An hour later, after the banquet had dispersed, Li Xuan finally saw Si Shenhua, the Master of Qinglong Palace.

When Li Xuan exited the private room, he found this man standing in the courtyard of the wine shop with his hands behind his back.

His demeanor was like a banished immortal, standing out in stark contrast to the environment around him.

Even being delayed by Li Xuan did not make him angry or annoyed, he was as calm as a bottomless deep pool.

Upon seeing Li Xuan, the Master of Qinglong Palace, Si Shenhua, looked over with a smile: "Marquis Guanjun, you kept me waiting for a long time."

Seeing him with no sign of displeasure and a demeanor that was pleasing, Li Xuan couldn’t help but view him more highly.

However, his face remained indifferent and nonchalant as he cupped his hands in a bow: "I apologize for the delay, I had been caught up with multiple matters."

"Not at all. I should apologize for my abrupt visit and any disturbance I may have caused to your banquet. Moreover, I also want to apologize on behalf of our Xuanwu Palace Master who may have offended you earlier. She isn’t much adept with societal norms and courtesies, I hope you can forgive her," Si Shenhua responded gracefully.

Master of Qinglong Palace Si Shenhua then casually asked with a smile. "I wonder if Marquis Guanjun can find the time for a chat with me?"

"Happens that I am free right now." Li Xuan nodded, thinking that he was already cornered, there was no way he could refuse.

In fact, he had an appointment with an ’Official of the Central Government’ from the Ministry of Rites to discuss Prince Xiang’s issue later.

Fortunately, their meeting was set to take place late, and the official was busy until the late hours of the night when they could step away from the ministry for the banquet.

Li Xuan then made a guiding gesture: "Master Si, I have to visit Jiangnan Medical Pavilion to check on my steed. Shall we talk while we walk?"

Just today, his Jade Qilin had finally awoken.

Due to the effects of the duplicate of the Book of Jinque, the Jade Qilin’s recovery process has been extremely slow, and even now, only more than half of its body is restored.

This very fact was also the root of Li Xuan’s resentment towards Jinque Palace.

At this moment, the expression of the Master of Qinglong Palace, Si Shenhua looked a bit awkward.

He was fully aware that Li Xuan’s mention of the Jade Qilin at this point was specifically for their upcoming negotiation. However, he also knew clearly that this Jade Qilin was the path of Meng Qingfan, the beloved disciple of the deceased Palace Master Gong Nianci.

The fact that Meng Qingfan’s ’beast body’ was in the shape of a Kylin was a tightly kept secret known by very few individuals even within the Heaven Palace.

However, as a good friend of Gong Nianci, Si Shenhua happened to know this truth.

Yet Si Shenhua dared not let this matter slip from his mouth, because if he did, it would not only embarrass Meng Qingfan but also disgrace others.

His face turned solemn as he locked eyes with Li Xuan: "Marquis of Guanjun, I have come with the utmost sincerity. If you have any requests, please feel free to express them. As long as it’s within the capabilities of Jinque Palace, I absolutely won’t turn you down."

After hearing his words, Li Xuan chuckled: "Shouldn’t you be the first to raise your offer for me to choose from?"

Li Xuan knew well that in negotiations, whoever makes the first offer is at a disadvantage.

He could gauge the opponent’s bottom line based on the offer they made.

"And as I mentioned before, you need to first provide a satisfactory explanation to The Court and the people."

Master of Qinglong Palace, Si Shenhua furrowed his brows, thinking how challenging it was to negotiate with the Marquis Guanjun.

The pressure Jinque Palace was facing from the East Sea Dragon Clan and from Zhonglie Duke Wen leading other deities was escalating.

The scope of this storm was expanding, no longer confined to the Water Deity and Chenghuang Land, but other deities including the Kitchen Deity, plant deities, and so forth, were also hopping onto the bandwagon.

Although they dared not make an enemy of Jinque Palace, they were vocal about their discontent.

The real issue was that under the instigation of the Marquis Guanjun, the Chenghuang of the north and south, and the Master of East Sea Dragon Palace, these deities were planning to break free from Jinque Palace.

They were preparing to establish a parallel system to discipline deities outside of Jinque Palace.

This was a major headache for Jinque Palace. If they were to lose their jurisdiction over the deities around the world, what would then be the purpose of Jinque Palace’s existence?

The divine power of the ’Book of Jinque,’ would also diminish significantly.

The book is a tool to regulate the ’Divine Law’ and ’Human Dao’ across the world, its power stems from both deities and mortals.

If all the deities stopped believing in and acknowledging the ’Book of Jinque and its heavenly rules and regulations, then these heavenly rules and instructions would naturally lose all their power.

The Qinglong Palace Master knew that all of these problems were centered on Li Xuan.

As long as he could sate Li Xuan, everything else could be resolved smoothly.

So, he laughed and said: "The Great and the Minor Dasiming and I intend to offer you two medium-grade Immortal Pills that can supplement one’s cultivation and restore Yuan Qi, as compensation for Master Shuide and your steed.

Additionally, the Heaven Palace is willing to exchange a fake divine treasure for the duplicate of the Heavenly Book in your possession. This is something of equal value to the duplicate of the Book of Jinque—"

"That’s far too little!" Before he could finish, Li Xuan shook his head: "And like I said before, you need to first satisfy The Court and all the deities."

It was a simple principle. The duplicate of the Book of Jinque was indispensable to Jinque Palace.

But a fake divine treasure was nothing more than a high-class Immortal Artifact that had close to divine treasure capabilities.

If Li Xuan’s ’Wuqu Pojun’ and ’Taotie’ were to be nurtured and restored to their peak, they could also reach this level.

The Lord of the Qinglong Palace had a slight smile on his lips. "Wouldn’t Marquis of Guanjun like to hear what kind of Immortal treasure we’re offering?"

Li Xuan glanced at him, a hint of sarcasm in his gaze.

He was indeed curious as to where they got the confidence to presume they could trade something valuable enough for the ’Heavenly Book’s Duplicate’ from him.

"It’s this."

The Lord of the Qinglong Palace raised his hand and revealed a strangely shaped bracelet to Li Xuan.

The bracelet was about an inch wide, pure gold in colour, with gemstones of various hues embedded at six distinct points around it.

Beyond these gemstones, there was also a spirit tortoise design.

Li Xuan looked at the bracelet with curiosity. "What is this?"

"The Six-phase Spirit Tortoise Bracelet." The Lord of the Qinglong Palace gazed at him indifferently. "This treasure can be considered an enhanced version of the ’Four Images Refining Primordial Furnace’ you possess. It wields the power of the six heavenly elements of Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, and Thunder. You can regard it as a quasi-external pill.

However, its greatest value comes from a bit of the ’Rule of Extreme Heaven’ derived from a ten-thousand-year spirit tortoise. This rule is for ’Life Extension’, the same ’Extension’ in a tortoise’s prolonged lifespan.

This treasure can extend a person’s life, allowing ordinary people to live up to two hundred years, a heavenly-level cultivator up to two thousand years while keeping their body in peak condition all the time."

Li Xuan could not help but meet the Lord of the Qinglong Palace’s gaze with a mocking stare. "Your Palace has truly gone to great lengths. However, this item is not meant for me. You can keep it."

While the Six-phase Spirit Tortoise Bracelet sounded impressive, it offered him little benefit.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the Six-phase Spirit Tortoise Bracelet’s enhancement for him was negligible at best.

The only person by Li Xuan’s side who could make use of it was Yue Qianqian. The Six-phase Spirit Tortoise Bracelet could allow her to draw heavenly-level divine power easily, without overburdening her body.

However, the Immortal treasure that Yue Qianqian was trying to acquire presently was not any less effective than this Six-phase Spirit Tortoise Bracelet.

Emerging from its longevity-enabling capability was indeed something that could cause a frenzy among the people.

Even Li Xuan could not suppress his interest entirely.

Among Li Xuan’s family and friends, Yue Qianqian was having a hard time cultivating and was unlikely to break through to the heavenly level in the future. Luo Yan, on the other hand, was cultivating the Jiuyang Tiancanbian. Consequently, her lifespan in the future would be uncertain.

Moreover, Li Xuan’s parents would also eventually approach the end of their lifespans.

The problem was, people do not suffer from scarcity, but from inequity.

Whom should he give this thing to after acquiring it?

From the looks of it, your Palace’s sincerity is rather limited." Li Xuan said coldly, "To put it bluntly, if you want to get the Book of the Jinque Palace back from me, you must put up a pseudo-divine treasure possessing the combat ’Rule of Extreme Heaven’, plus three medium-grade Immortal Artifacts, or something of equivalent value in exchange.

This is just from my end. If your Palace intends to quieten the chaos, you still have to agree to two of our conditions. Firstly, the Heaven, Earth and Humane Palaces should be established within Jinque Palace, and a representative each from the East Sea Dragon Palace, Chenghuang Deities, and The Court appointed as Palace Masters, sharing control over the Book of Jinque and Qianqiu Brush."

His way of dealing with the adversary, Jinque Palace, was to introduce disputes within —

"Impossible!" The Lord of the Qinglong Palace could not help but raise his voice, and his face showed a strong sense of resistance.

Li Xuan looked at him with surprise. "Why not? What the gods and the East Sea Dragon Palace seek is nothing more than to monitor the use of the Qianqiu Brush and the Book of Jinque.

This is because your Jinque Palace’s rewards and penalties have so many points of criticisms, making the gods feel unfair.

Honestly, if your Palace cannot do this much and cannot show the world your attitude to correct your bad deeds, I will not be able to persuade the Dragon Palace and The Court."

Then Li Xuan’s lips curved up slightly, and with a mocking tone, he continued, "Do you know how great a temptation it would be for The Court, the dragon clan, and all the Chenghuang deities in the world to break away from your Palace and establish their own Heaven Palaces?"

The Lord of the Qinglong Palace could not help but went pale. It was because they realized this, that he appeared here today.

What Li Xuan did was to hit Jinque Palace right at their weak spot.

In the world today, only this person could bring these three forces together.

The Lord of the Qinglong Palace hesitated for a moment, and finally let out a long sigh: "Marquis of Guanjun, your asking price is too high. Our Greater and Lesser Si Ming would never agree to provide three medium-grade Immortal artifacts, at most one, maybe with some Immortal Pills of equivalent value.

Building the Heaven, Earth, and Humane Palaces is also impossible. The Nine Palaces of Greater and Lesser Si Ming, and the Four Symbols controlling the Qianqiu Brush and the Book of Jinque is a rule set by Jinque Palace a long time ago and has been in place for thousands of years.

Even if we agree to it, these three Palaces could not truly integrate into the Heaven Palace. The masters of Greater and Lesser Si Ming, and the Four Symbols all hold a part of the power of the ’Book of Jinque’. With this power, they can control the Qianqiu Brush."

Then his tone shifted: "However, if the gods just want to oversee the use of Qianqiu Brush and the Book of Jinque, I can propose to Dasiming to increase the number of our palace enforcers to seven.

The two added positions can only be given to Wen Zhonglie and the East Sea Dragon Clan. Including The Court is absolutely impossible. Marquis of Guanjun, you should know that the ’history’ written by Qianqiu Brush is of significant concern and cannot be leaked. Moreover, The Court’s interference in the Heavenly Dao through human means is fraught with endless hidden dangers."

Li Xuan thought about it and responded with a smile, "Let’s make it eight palace enforcers. The additional position could be designated by The Court within your Jinque Palace. Additionally, the successors of your Tianshi Palace must henceforth be jointly determined by the Court of the Great Jin Dynasty, the East Sea Dragon Clan, and Wen Zhonglie."

He was quite satisfied with the attitude of the Lord of the Qinglong Palace.

In the proverbial sense, asking for the moon, but settling for a penny, the other party’s counteroffer had already exceeded his bottom line by a significant amount.

The Lord of the Qinglong Palace, Si Shenhua, instinctively wanted to further negotiate the price, but Li Xuan did not give him a chance. "This is my final offer," He stated. "If your Jinque Palace does not agree, then there’s no need to carry on this conversation. I’ve arrived at Jiangnan Clinic; I must go check on my injured Kylin, excuse me!"

And then, as anticipated, he left the Lord of the Qinglong Palace standing, striding into the neighboring clinic.

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